Friday, February 5, 2016

Beegie Adair and Don Aliquo: Too Marvelous for Words

Those old enough to
remember the jazz scene in the late 1940s and ’50s know what it was like to
enjoy the music that was being played on the countless radio stations and clubs
that operated in every big city across the United States. Quite a few of the
artists who were part of that kind of jazz — or influenced by it — are still
active today. Tenor/alto sax player Don Aliquo and pianist Beegie Adair are two
examples, and they’ve gotten together for this album.

Adair is the senior
member here. Born in 1937 in Kentucky, she began to play piano at age 5; after
obtaining a college degree, she moved to Nashville and became a session
musician. Not many can say they’ve played with a range of singers such as Peggy
Lee, Cass Elliot, Dinah Shore and Dolly Parton.

Adair and her
husband anchored their own trio, and over the years produced scores of albums.

Aliquo, born in
Pittsburgh in 1960, worked there until 1999, when he moved to Nashville. He soon met and performed with Beegie, but this
is the first album they’ve made together; they’re joined
by bassist Roger Spencer and drummer Chris Brown (Adair’s regular trio members).

Jazz fans who still
love 1950s stylings will enjoy this release. Most of the 10 tracks hail from
the Great American Songbook, and only one — “Isfahan” — was written later than 1952.
You’ll certainly recognize all of them.

Aliquo is a smooth artist
who plays in the style of Stan Getz and Ted Nash. Adair is another Marian
McPartland, but swings more. As a team, Aliquo and Adair groove nicely.

This is a wonderful trip to the past: more than an hour of melodies you
enjoyed then, and will want to hear again and again.